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SPEECH 



OT 



HON. F. W. PICKENS, 



f)ELIVERED EEFORE 



A PiJSLIC MSSTINS 0? THE PEDPLS 0? THE DI3TBICT, 



HELD AT 



EDGEFIEI.D €. H., S. C, 
JULY 7, ISjI. 



EDGEFIELD, S. C. 
PRLYTED AT THE ADVERTISER OFFICE. 

185L 






!l'8U2^' 



>ir^ 



V 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. F. W. PICKENS. 



Mr. Chairman ! Fellow Citizens : 

I return you my sincere thanks for the 
kind manner in which you are pleased to re- 
ceive me — It is far more than I had a right 
to expect. 

It is with the utmost reluctance that I am 
induced to trespass upon you at the present 
time. I assure you in great sincerity, that up- 
on no previous occasion of my life have I risen 
to speak more reluctantly or under feelings of 
deeper embarrassment and anxiety for the 
future. I thank God ! that I have been able, 
for the last few years, to withdraw myself 
entirely from all the bitter conflicts of party 
feeling. It was my lot, when very young, 
to have been thrown into many angry con- 
tests in the excited party warfare of the 
day. I know that I have said many things, 
which perhaps in cooler moments I might 
\iave wished unsaid. But removed, as I 
have been, for years, from all active strug- 
gles in politics, I can truly say that what- 
ever harshness may have been generated by 
collision, I, at present, feel not a lingering 
sentiment of unkindness towards any 
party or any men, with whom it has 
ever been my lot to come in conflict 
through the past scenes of life. I never 
wish again to mingle in the bitter, and, for the 
most part, heartless struggles of politics. I 
have enough, in the endearments of home, to 
give contentment to the heart of any man. 
But, gentlemen, we are on the eve of mighty 
events. And the emergency of the country 
rises superior to all parties or all party con- 



tests. Entitled to an inheritance, transmitted 
through treason and revolution, I would be 
untrue to those from whom I claim my ori- 
gin, and prove myself but a bastard, if I 
could hesitate to risk that inheritance and 
life itself, if necessary, in defence of the .an- 
cient liberties and independence of South 
Carolina. 

If we expect to go through the present 
controversy successfully, the very first thing 
to be done, is to produce union, concert of 
action, cordial and kind feelings at home, in 
every citizen of the State and between all 
classes and all parties. We must forgive and 
forget the past — we must come together as 
brethren of one family — we must bury all 
feelings in a consecrated and holy devotion 
to the State, and nothing but her true honor 
and interests. Division at home will be fatal 
to South Carolina — and through her to 
Southern Independence. All know that to 
divide South Carolina is to paralyze her arm, 
and to make her imbecile is to destroy all 
hopes of Southern co-operation or Southern 
resistance. Our strength has heretofore con- 
sisted in our union, and this has made us a 
fit basis to commence Southern resistance. 
We are a small State, and have been isolated 
by detraction and abuse. The minions of 
Federal power and the tools of Northern ag- 
gression have singled us out for their con- 
stant denunciation, because they well knew 
we stood in their way and were their main 
difficulty in perpetrating schemes of plunder 
and usurpation. If we become united, they 



[ 4 ] 



become bitter. If we Ijcpome divided, our [orfy at least to every Englishman and Amer- 
deadly enemies begin lo exult, and fawn upcn 
awd flatter tiiose who m;ii<e tiie divibioii. 

I stand here unlrammelled, to spe:ik the 
nnbiased dictates of my he.irt and the con- 
victionBof my jnd<fnK'nt, and I heg and en- 
treat that there will bo no party divi>ion8 in 
South Carolina, and that we will (five and 
take, and ifwe difrur,wesliall difTeras friends 
and as brothers, with no imid or nnkiud a?- 
persions whatever. The day of trial is com- 
ing, and let no mnn suppose we are to rru 
Ih'rough without difficulty and without dan- 
gers. Commercial credit is sensi.ive and 
dreads a convulsion ; banking capital is also 
nensitive, ;ind to the amount of millions will 
be deeply felt in any movement calculated to 
shake society. But if the people of tiie 
State, with all the interests of the State, be 
united and we move with judfroment and 
firmness — standing upon our chartered rights 
as fixed in the compact and dedueible from 
the history of the Confederacy— we can do 
any thing tliat a sovereign people dare do — 
we can save ourselves by joint co-operation 
with our sister States of the South, if pos- 
f ible to be obtained by prudence and concil- 
iation — but if all hope of co-operation be lest 
and we should be driven to the last sad 
alternative, if we are cordially united at 
liome, we can save oiirsehes alone. 

Fellow Citizens: — The great struggle in 
modern times is for se|.<arate coinmnni;ies to 
preserve their separate independence. The 
tendency in all modern sfpciety is to aggrega- 
tion, where one consolidated public djiinioii 
is to govern absolutely. The press, steani- 
jpower, and electric communication all tend to 
concentrate one united public opinion and 
public feeling, without reference to dilfcrenl 
local interests. Local feelings and local 
rights are all absorbed in one general vor- 
tex. 
/ Formerly the great struggle in the world 
was, lo protect and secure ihe personal or 
j^idividual rights of m.^n. 'j'lie contests for 
liberty were jdl confined to securing person- 
al rights. Fr.t we have long since passed 
that point ill the prefnvss of civil liberty 
r.lagnn Chartn— -1ri,.i liv :nrv — and the halisu: 



fi'^ir^'iis, iiave ;dl bccu."ed mere perMma! Kb- 



I5nt the strusrgle, now is to preserve the in- 
dependence of separate communities. It is 
far more difficult and requires a far more 
philosophical constitution of society. For 
one community to be subject to the control 
or public opinion of another community, if 
carried out in the power ot Government, i:i 
political despotism. iMagna Charta and its 
principles have secured personal rights, and 
a Confederacy of separate independent Slates, 
wlih power in the parts to prevent themselves 
from being absorbed by the central head, 
will secure political liherty. English writers 
and English statesmen have exhausted the 
subject of personal liberty, but beinsr a com- 
pact small territory, with no distinct and 
sectional interests, entirely consolidated in 
interest and feeling, they have had no great 
occasion to investigate the still higher theo- 
ries connected with the separate lights of in- 
dependent communities acting together under 
a common (lovenmient. 

The French writers and enthusiasts, at the 
breaking out of the French revolution, push- 
ed personal rights to an extreme. The phi- 
losophy of Rousseau and Vcdtaire and thtir 
followers made the public mind drunk with 
new theories and doctrines. Being goaded 
:'.nd insulted by iirrogant orders in society, 
they made all liberfyturnuponthenalnr.il 
and personal rights of. man ; and the whole 
French people were converted into a nation 
of Propagandists. They believed them- 
selves to be the chosen jieopie of fate, des- 
lined to overrun the nations of the earth, ami 
to redeem and regenerate a world of mankind 
sleeping under iijnorance and despotism. 
And they came well nigh at one tinu' to con- 
verting whole kingdoms and nations into 
mere provinces of a great French Republic. 
Many of our leading men of that day caught 
to some extent the enthusiasm and wild theo- 
ry of French liberty. Amongst them were 
Fr.AXELix and jEFrr.RscN They endeavored 
to f)lant many of these doctrines in Ameri- 
ca. It was from this kind of philosophy 
tliat ti:e abstraction contained in our decl.i- 
rauoii of independence, "that all men are 
';or:i equal" was t;dcen, and many fupposetl / 



[ 5 ] 



t!iat tliis parried out, wnnlJ always give lib- 
t-rty. And the lii^'lier nnd f.ir nioiv philoso- 
|)liif;.l i)ro]if)si;i(MU ihatall sep.irati' and inde- 
pendent States were equnl, seemed for a lime 
to be I'ist si^Hit of. The Northern people 
now seem to believe themselves to be the 
inherilors of Frem-h philosophy and Frencli 
liberty ; and nnder this idea, sup[)ose that 
they i rj the ehosen and peeuliar people, un- 
der Frovidenee, to spread the blessings of 
universil equaii'.y and relieve us from the 
evils of our loeal insii:utions. They consider 
themselves to bo the elect of God to g!;vern 
the world according to their notions. 

It is well ascertained from hlsiory, that 
Rl the formitionof the present Federal com- 
pact there were great and important interests 
in the separate States.pecnliar to the different 
States. They were not ordinary interests 
that spring up in a body poli'.ie, but they were 
vital interests, essential to the very existence 
of tiic*. States themselves. Amongst these 
was the inslitnlion of doineslic ser\itnde. It 
is well known that tlie constitution could not 
bave been adopted unless this- interest were 
left exclusively under the control of the 
Stales interested, and unless it had been un- 
derstood that the Fedi'rid Govenunent was 
entirely excluded from all interference wbli 
it after the year 1808. And if the States 
now have not the right and ihe power to pro- 
tect ilin any w;iy that their judgements may 
dictate, then there has been a perver.-ion of 
power and they h.ive becm ditVauded. if 
power has been exerci-ed over Ihein so that 
in their judgements, the peace and final exist- 
ence of their Kiciety may become endanger- 
ed — they have a right, under tlie 'police fou-er 
if nothing el^e, to protect and defend ihein- 
selves ill any way that they may deem neces- 
sary. 

If the power of the non-slavehnlding States 
be concenlr.-ited tlirough the Federal head so 
as to act upon, and absorb the s!ave-!n)lding' 
Stales, or to clrcnmscribe their increasing 
power nn accounl <d' thzlr inalilulions, then it' 
liiere be no check llirough the action of the 
States concerned, it must eiul in political des- 
jioti.Mii. If the peo])le of Masr-iaclmsetts, and 
New York, and I'ennsylvaida and Oliio, be 
It'ongltt to act toge'.her by tlieir prejudices. 



nr feeling?!, or public opinion, eo that tbey 
move as one mnss, and get control of the Fed- 
eral Governient, and bring it to bear, in all it3 
moral and political power, upon the loeal in- 
stitutions of the Southern States, then as far 
as these are concerned, they are governed by 
a people as alien to them as if they were en- 
lire foreigners. What consolation is it to a 
South Carolinian to fidl him that be is gov- 
erned bv the freemen of Ohio who understand 
liberty much better than he does, and who 
deem it a duty they owe to God that the. 
conntry shall be finally purged of the sin of 
slavery? What may be very well suited to 
Ohio, may not suit South Carolina at all. 
The whole organization and structure of our 
Society are different. They are almost two 
distinct orders (d' civilization; the one rest- 
iuD" upon the individual equality of men of 
all colors, and the other resting upon domes- 
tic servi'.ude in the bbick race. This distinc- 
tion pervades all society, entering into the 
social, moral and political relations of every 
man in tlie two sections. They teach their 
children in their schools and at their fire-sides 
to contemn and hale us and our instiuilions. 
The same is taught from the pul|)it and 
around the sacrament table, as well as in their 
politics. Who is to judge between us? The 
Federal Government ? if this Northern ma- 
joiiiy control it absolutely, and finally biing 
it to liear upon these pidnls, ihen xi is but 
the judgment (d'Oiiio in ano; her form brought 
to ;.ct upon the iiilert'sts and ins'.i u ions of 
South Carolina. If this be the ii..l)i nal work- 
ing of ihe syslem.then indeed are we a doom- 
ed race. The truth is tliere are seciions and 
Stales in this coid'ederacy having totally dif- 
ieri'ut l.;cal in'erests, and the •■e|>ai'ale ii.de- 
pendcnce and equality of the States i< es-^en- 
lial to guard ami protect those interests in 
(Uir system. Stale equality is an essential 
principal of liberly. We may haw general 
interests in our external relations and foreign 
interconrse united, but when the General 
Government acts upon the organized loeal 
instil utions of the country, then it nece^s.-iri- 
ly becomes a despotism — an engine turned 
njion the in'erior liberty of secliims, instead 
<d' tnaintaiiiing our exterior independence. 
True liber! V coui-iritsin a system of fixed and 



ascertained law, siu'edto the interests of the 
community, and regulated and controlled by 
those upon whom the law operates. What 
may be very good local law to South Caro- 
lina may be totally unsuited to Ohio. To take 
our institutions and transplant them there 
would be as vain as to plant tlie orange tree 
upon the frozen Mountains of Vermont and 
expect it to bloom and to bear. And so in like 
manner, to transplant the social and political 
institutions of Ohio in South Carolina, would 
be as vain as to expect us to live on v.iiaie- 
blubber upon which the Esquamaux fattens. 

No ! tlie Federal compact between the 
States was made with a view to guard and 
protect these different local interests and insti- 
tutions, by reseivinaf to the States exclusive 
jurisdiction over their peculiar and separate 
interests. Without this the Government 
could never have been formed, and without 
this, it should never be preserved. Mr. Chair- 
man ! the separate sovereignty and Indepen- 
dence of these States is the fundamental law 
of American liberty. 

In the declaration of Independence it is ex- 
pressly laid down that these "coZoju'es" (not 
these people) "are, and of right ought to be, 
free and independent Stales." In the old arti- 
cles of confederation, the very 2d article, ex- 
pressly declares that, "each Stale retains iis 
sovereignfij, freedom and independence." 

In the present constitution it is laid down 
that "the powers not delegated to the United 
States by the constitution, nor prohibited by 
it to the States, are reserved to the Stales re- 
spectively or to the people." This compact 
did not mnkean amalgamated people — it only 
united States together for certain specified 
objects. The mode and manner in which it 
was adopted proves this. It was acceded to 
by the States separately in their State (Con- 
ventions, and until each State adopted it for 
it.self it had no binding effect upon such State. 
North Carolina and Rhode Island actually 
refused to adopt it for sometime, and they 
could have remained out of it to tiiis day if 
they had thought proper. The debate in this 
State took pluee in the Leij;islatin"e njion the 
proposition to cull a convention to ratify the 
constitution, and tiia call of the convention 
■was carried by only ov.c vote. Ninety-six dis- 



trict, of which this district was a portion. 
voted against it except one vote, and the 
great majority inthe middle a»d upper districts 
were against its adoption. It was carried by 
Charleston and the low-country. The con- 
vention, sitting in the capacity of a sovereign 
State, imposed the obligations of the federal 
compact upon us as citizens, and the same 
sovereign power can be again called into ac- 
tion to release us from those obligations. As 
the State acceded to the compact so. it can 
secede in like manner. Without this right 
and power the reserved sovereignty and in- 
dependence of the States is all rabid declam- 
ation and swelling assumption. 

The right and the power of the separate 
States to check, in an extreme case and as 
the last resort, by secession, is essential to 
preserve their independence. If this were 
known and acknowledged as a dormant power 
belonging to our system, there would be no 
cause for dissolution, for the Government 
would abstain from usurping power over lo- 
cal and vital interests, and the States them- 
selves would feel easy as they had the ulti- 
mate power to protect themselves, and would 
not become excited on any temporary usur- 
pation or exercise of obnoxious power. But 
without this, there must ever be in the pub- 
lic mind a restless uneasinessard impatienv-e, 
for fear that the ultimate liberty of the parts 
cannot be preserved. And the Government 
which was created as a mere agent to execute 
the compact between the States, will in the 
course of time, make its own interests the 
measure of its power, and substitute that 
power as the law for the States that created 
it, instead of the compact itself. This com- 
pact is not a compact with the Federal Gov- 
erment, but it is a compact between co-States 
of the confederacy. And when a State, in 
its sovereign capacity, makes an issue upon 
the organic law by which it is connected 
with the other States, it is an issue not with 
tlie Federal Government, but an issue with 
the co-States. And if the Government in- 
terferes to decide the issue then tendered, it 
is usurpation— and if it tenders force to put 
down the State, thus m.iking the issue upon 
the original powers of the compact, it is des- 
potism, and we are cowards and slaves if we 



[ ' ] 



do not meet it like brave men, although tlie 
land should be drenched in blood or wrapt in 
flames. 

But Mr. Webster says, that the Govern- 
ment after it was created has original and in- 
herent powers of its own, which it is bound 
to execute and protect. Original and inherent 
powers! He has never condescended to 
point out what these are, but was obliged to 
take that ground, after first denying that the 
constitution was a compact, and when his 
Boston Review was forced to give that point 
up, he fell back upon the doctrine of original 
and inherent* powers in the Government after 
its creation. 

This is a great question fellow citizens ; and 
bear with me while I examine it freely, for 
we are at the commencement of a mighty 
struggle. The issue whether we are under 
the Government of Independent States or 
under the Government of an absolute majori- 
ty feeling for themselves only, is to be de- 
cided, and if it is to be decided by force we 
must not only be right, but we must under- 
stand the grounds upon which we move. 

I have said that the States acceded to the 
compact as separate States, and to deny this 
is to deny history. But I go further and say 
that it was not only made by the States as 
States, but that they only can unmake it — 
and I say that the Federal Government at 
this day is but the creature of the States. 
How is the instrument to be amended or al- 
tered ? Is it by the people of the Union ? 
No! Article 5th, declares that amendments 
may be proposed and if ratified or adopted by 
''the Legislatures of three-fourths of the SEV- 
ERAL STATES, or by Conventions in 
three-fourths thereof" shall become part of 
the constitution. It is the States that made 
the constitution and it is the States alone 
that can alter it. Three-fourths of the States 
can make a new constitution and a new Gov- 
ernment under it. Suppose three-fourths of 
the States, by amendment to the constitution, 
declare there shall be no Navy and no Army, 
or that there shall be no President and noth- 
ing but a Congress of States. Can they not 

*See the Review of the great debate between 
Webster and CalhouNj in the North American 
Review. 



do so ? and where then is the power of thiy 
Government? where are the original and in- 
herent powers that belong to it, independent' 
of the States? To talk about the Govern- 
ment having substantive powers independent 
of the States is nothing but naked assertion. 
Suppose a simple majority of the states should 
refuse to elect or send Senators to Congress 
where would your Government of inherent 
powers be? I admit, as long as we are in 
the Union, it is a constitutional duty in the 
States to elect Senators; but suppose they 
should think it a duty not to elect — where is 
the power to compel them ? If under force 
they are compelled to send Senators, it is not 
of their free election, and itself changes the 
Government. There can be no law made 
without a Senate, and I only use this to 
shew how completely the Government is in 
the power of the States. In fact it is a Gov- 
ernment of States, and of no simple majority 
of people. Wherever reposes the power in 
any community to make or amend the orgahie 
law by which the community is kept together, 
there resides sovereignty. If the written 
constitution be the supreme law of the land, 
the power that can make it or alter it is the 
supreme and sovereign power of the land. I 
have shewn that the States alone made the 
constitution and that they alone can alter or 
amend it, even so as to alter the whole Gov- 
ernment itself, and if that be not sovereign 
power, then I am at a loss to conceive what 
can be. The truth is, the Federal Govern- 
ment has no sovereignty. 

It is an agent limited by the specific grants 
of power made by the States. The only 
thing that even appears to contradict this idea 
is the power given to punish treason. Trea- 
son is an offence against Sovereignty. But 
this power itself is limited by the States who 
granted it; for they refused to give the power 
to define treason, and have themselves de- 
fined it in the very grant to punish it, and 
declared in what only it shall consist, and 
have even laid down how it shall be proved. 
It shews they intended to grant no sovereign- 
ty, for they limit and define exactly the power 
of the Government — even in treason. And 
the treason they define, is treason against the 
conjoined sovereignly of the States, not 



[ 8 ] 



agninst the Govcrnrtient. Fot it h '"levying 
war"' against the '-Uniteil States" that consii- 
Ui'.es treason and notiiing else does. As 
Jong as tiif.' Stales are united, tbere can be 
no treason, but wlien they are no longer uni- 
ted and sovereign power lias aLsolved ihom, 
there can be no treason, for it cannot exist 
.iirainst the Government. All this shews 



If oppression bcinfoleniblo, the lowest serf 
of Rii3-ia ean appeal to arms and to revo. 
Inlion, and s:o ean the Turk — but this is no 
system of liberty. The European draws tlie 
sword and appeals to revolution to viudieato 
his liberties, but we appeal to sovereiga 
States with organized governments who shall 
irivo sueli authoritative declarations of the 



that the government has no substantive fundamental law as shall guard and protect 
powers: And that the compact isa compact our liberties, without an ::pi)eal to arms in 
Aviih co-States, and on a question involving the first instance. 



the oriirinal powers of the comp.ct itself, if a 
St.ile tn.ike an issue, it U not with the 
Federal Government but wilh the co-States. 
And there is no power granted in the com- 
pact to the Government to enforce obedi- 
ence, but the States themselves mn 4 sit in 
judgment on the issues made, aiul tln-ee- 
fourlhs of the States can affirm the power 
denieii; fur they alone can add to or amend 
the constitution or i.flirm what i: is, to bind 
a sovereign member of the confederacy. 
Any power short of tliis is usurpation and 
clianL;-es the whole gei;ins and tlicoiy of our 
system. The wliole system rests upon friend- 
ly discussion, upon a compro^ui^e — f.ir ar- 
gument and truih, and a full hearing ami 



'J'hey made the constitution and cnn niter 
it, and th.ey alone, in a grp.al emergency.^ can 
reform and reirenerate the action of the Feder- 
al Goverimient. Tiiis makes us a confedera- 
cy, as contra-distinguished from a .simple de- 
mocracy, where the sense of States has to be 
t.aken on sec'.ional questions affecting the 
liberty of the parts. Without this, we have 
a centra! nnchecked Government under the 
con'rol of a nuijority antagonist to us, instead 
of a confederated republic where the power 
of the head is not incon>istcnt with the liber- 
ty of the parts. This is the original concep- 
tion of our system, and a part of its very o.^- 
i.stence. 

But many oppose that the constitution 



final dcci.-ion bv independent and sovereign itself has created :\ common arbiler in the 
St.-ites wi.h all their mord and poll ieal Sn])reme Court of the United States — in- 
wei^-lit. In this point of vie>v, the States are stead of the tribnnal ot the States. This 
the Peers of each other. And if three-fuur.hs is a great ini>concei)'.ion. In the clause cou- 
deeide .-ig.dnst a sovereion State, then miy fering jurisdiction upon the Court, the won- 
jirise the question of ./?)/-'?/ secession — andifjderfnl wi.^dum of the instrument is illns- 
tliree-foulhs, n<'t onlv afiirm the power, bat | Ir.ited as well as in every other clause. Th© 
grant force to the use of the government to i words .-u'c, "iiie judicial power shall extend 
Cirry out that atlirm.ili"n, seces>ion cm then i to all cases in. Law and Eguily,i\rMng under 
be adopted finally at the ri>koftiie Slate. : this, the constiir.ion. the l.iWs of the l.md 
But if compulsion or force be used before and treaties &c." An .-.meiidment to the 
this, it is lawless and the Gtwernment as- conslitniion, made at the instance of Georgii, 
smnes a power not granted and must end in j also prohibits a State being sued. Those 



despotism. 



who drew this cl.use were l.iwvers and well 



The States of the confederacy in many understood the legal language they used. 
points of view are the esiales of Ike Realm, i '-C; ses in Law and Equity." are such as can 
And on all vital questions involving the or- | be made tip by pleadings where the rights of 



ganic law by which they are uniied, their 
power must be recognized or there can be 
DO real independence. There can be no 
political liberty unless these estates are fully 
and fairly consulted. Without this we bavo 
made no advance over Europe in civil liberty 
itself, to suit tho issues of modern society. 



meu7n and Luum are involved, where indi- 
vidiuils can appear— where mere rights of 
property can be decided. But where a State 
makes an issue in her sovereign capacity on 
the compact itself— it is a high poli.ical (pies- 
tion, beyond the pleadings to be made up by 
individuals. Wlicu a State (secedes or chooses 



[ M 



to release her citizens from the obligations 
of the federal constitution, her citizens can 
no longer be reached by federal power in any 
form. 

The State cannot be sued, for it is express- 
ly prohibited, and when she makes an issue, 
it is political and not "in Law or Equity." 
The very nature of the issue is the reverse 
of any thing in "Law and Equity." There is 
no forced construction that can give jurisdic- 
tion. To do so, would pervert the whole 
genius of the Court and make it more than a 
'Star' Chamber Court ever was. True, politi- 
cal opinions of individuals and even of cor- 
porations were brought under the jurisdiction 
of the old 'Star' Chamber Court, but sover- 
eign States were never brought there. No ! 
there is no umpire. The sovereign States 
themselves are the judges in the last resort, 
and from the nature of things there can be no 
other judges compatible with sovereignty. 
The power to interfere and check in extreme 
& vital cases,involving the liberty of the state, 
is inherent in the nature of the compact itself. 
Without this we have made no advance in the 
system of regulated liberty. It is the great 
distinctive feature of American freedom. — It 
is the great fundamental law of the Ameri- 
can compact, without which we are under 
a consolidated despotism, one, from which 
we will have to march sword in hand and 
through the perils of revolution. Under the 
recognition of this great fundamental right 
belonging to the States, there can be peace 
and no revolution. A fair adjustment and 
new understanding of the compact may yet 
give life to the confederacy. But without it 
our doom is fixed. — the hand writing is upon 
the W"all, and we have no alternative, but an 
appeal to arms and the God of battles. 

But the right of a State to secede or inter- 
pose was not questioned by the republican 
party of old. The Virginia and Kentucky 
resolutions of 1798, drawn by Jefferson and 
Madison, expressly laid down the doctrine 
boldly and ably, and it was universally re- 
cognized by the republican party from that 
day until now. Virginia did actually inter- 
pose and declare the alien and sedition laws 
of no force, null and void within her territo- 
ries — and empowered the Legislature to car- 



ry it out. The Government was checked and' 
controlled, and a civil revolution was brought 
about. If those who enacted these laws had 
held power and persevered in enforcing them 
the Union would then have been dissolved. 
But State interposition made the issue palpa- 
ble and they were overthrown. 

The right to withdraw or secede is not left 
to inference, although clear from the very 
nature of the compact and of sovereignty in 
the States. But New York, in the conditions 
upon which she ratified, expressly declared 
that the 'powers of Government may be 
reassuraed by the people whensoever it shall 
become necessary for their happiness.'Virginia; 
did the same except using the words, "when- 
soever the same shall be perverted to their 
injury or oppression." Rhode Island did the 
same. Those were the conditions these 
States expressly annexed, and if it was a 
right they expressly reserved, if it avails any 
thing, it accrues equally to all; for it was rati- 
fied by equals and no one could retain a 
powder which each and all did not have alike. 
But it does not require that the right should 
be secured in toiulem verbis. It belongs to 
the existence and independence of a State 
and cannot be limited or circumscribed by 
any parchment on earth. 

But it is said this would make the Union 
a rope of sand. So it was said in old 
times that trial by jury would be a seri- 
ous clog to an efficient government. To as- 
sert that it was necessary to obtain the ver- 
dict of twelve men, before you could convict 
a State criminal, would embarrass Govern- 
ment and ministers of state could not get 
along with powers. All free Governments 
are full of checks. It is the checks that make 
liberty. Despotism has no checks. So far 
from the interposition of States on vital local 
interests making the Union too weak, it is 
the only thing that can save the Union. With- 
out this, in so extensive a country with such 
variety of interests, its dissolution is as in- 
evitable as destiny. Heretofore the difference 
in our social and domestic institutions and 
our almost distinct orders of civilization, 
have not been so deeply felt, because we 
have had a sparse population. But as popu- 
lation increases and becomes pressed down 



[ 10] 



into its different claBsifications, and grows 
dense — tlivn lliese differences will be deeply 
felt and the conflict will grow more deadly. 
Nothing can savo us bat the recorrnized 
power of the States. What has aided in 
keepings this Union together hcreioibre has 
been the fear of European interference if 
we should separate. Fragmenls of the con- 
federacy might be subsidized or conquered 
by European powers with monarchical insti- 
tutions and thus monarchy might be rein- 
stated here. This was the great fear in the 
early days of our Republic. But the last 
few years have dispelled all such fears. It is 
now apparent that European monarchies can 
Bcarcely maintain themselves at home. The 
convulsions of the last few years camemear 
overthrowing their own Governments, and 
the day is now past when there is any danger 
from European interfi»rence in American 
Governments. VVashingto.n's farewell ad- 
dress, which has been so often quoted by dem- 
agogues, was drawn in reference to the state 
of the world at that time. We were then, com- 
paratively speaking, but a handful of people. 
We had but recently come out of a bloody 
struggle with Great Britain. There was deep 
prejudice to our instil uiions in Europe. And 
the great dread wiih us was, that we might 
be re-conquered or portions might become 
subsidised. United we could defend ourselves 
and divided we would be ruined. To keep 
us together so as to defend ourselve.s from 
Europe, was the great object of Washing- 
ton's address. It was suited to the day in 
which it was delivered. Wo have now passed 
from a weak to a powerful people. The ad- 
dress was to rally us against Foreign power, 
but nevercontemplated one powerful section 
of the Republic combining so as to insult 
and degrade nearly one half of the States of 
the Republic. It is totally inapplicable to the 
present stale of the world and to our country. 
We are now alive to other dangers than dis- 
union, and the dormant powers of the States 
may be called out to their fullest dcvelope- 
ment according to the genius of our system, 
without at all runing into the dangers that 
Washington dreaded from European inter- 
ference. We are now strong enough to 
de\ elope the true nature of our Government 



fully, and as it might have been too weak at 
first to encounter the power of Europe, true 
patriotism then retiuired a cordial Union to 
support it. But, if in its progress, it becomes 
too powerful at the centre i'or the indepen- 
dence of the parts, then true patriotism would 
refiuire a cheekintr power, and that the States 
should be riii.-ed up to assert their original 
rights and independence, so as to force back 
the Government itself into a channel com- 
patible with regulated and enlightened liber- 
ty. It is vile demngogueism to quote the 
great Washington's farewell address as ap- 
plicable to the present state of the country; 
those who expect to save the Union by simply 
doing that, without reforming the Govern- 
ment first, hug to themselves a fatal delusion. 
Fellow citizens! we now come to investi- 
gate our present position as a State, and to 
state fairly what may be our particular duty 
in the present emergency. 

I was opposed to the call of the Conven- 
tion under e.xisting circumstances, and par- 
ticularly opposed to the meeting of the con- 
vention being so long after the election. I 
thought it would give a pretext for divisions 
amongst our own people. I thought it 
dangerous to repose the sovereign power of 
the State, even extending to life and property 
in its results, in so small a body of men as 
constitute that (^Jonvention, for so long a 
time in advance. The great strength of a con- 
vention consists in coming fresh from the 
jjcople, and the people themselves deciding 
all great ':iuestions in advance. J thought 
there vi'as danger of confusion and feared 
final imbecility. I therefore would have pre- 
fered the election of the Convention to take 
place in October next, instead of February 
last. But now that we are in Convention — • 
I am for going through. I am against stand- 
ing still or taking any step backwards. True, 
the issues may somewhat change by next 
Spring when the Convention meets. New 
questions may arise that may vary the pros- 
pect of affairs. Allow me to ^ay, with defer- 
ence to others, that the great danger now is, 
not rashness, but division and imbecility. 
The danger is that we will sink under the 
pressure brought to bear on us. I fear, that 
if we pass this crisis without doing somethingi 



[ 11 ] 



the country will sink. The spirit of our peo- 
ple will die away. If we permit this accuniu- 
hition of all power in the Federal liands under 
the dietation of Northern fanaticism, North- 
ern prejudice and Northern interests, we will 
be worn out and prostrated, and finally quail 
before despotism. 

Our young men will sink — They will begin 
to worship Northern power, and become iii- 
diiferent to their own country. They will 
bow down before a magnificent Government 
where liberty will be absorbed in the extend- 
ed rays of patronage 

"They will crook the pregnant hinges of the 

knee 
AVliere thrift may follow fawning." 
Our very women will comtemn and des- 
pise us as a degenerate race, and they will 
look to others for protection. The first evi- 
dence of the corruption and decay of a peo- 
ple, is that the women begin to idolise for- 
eigners. If the men become cowardly and 
luxurious, the women begin to look to others 
for that manliness which they so much ad- 
mire. Such was the case in Mexico and such 
will be the case in every country where the 
men want spirit to defend their rights, I 
know tliat the great chartered rights and in- 
dependence of my State are in danger — I feel 
that we are a degraded people if we do not 
rise. I desire co-operation with our sister 
States of the South — I will wait to tiie very 
last while there is hope — I will yield every 
emotion of pride and every thing, but a sacri- 
fice of principle, to procure co-operation. — 
But it may become our sacred duty ',o acl alone 
and if so, we must umlk the plank alone like 
men, although that plank may lead over a 
gulf of fi'ightful dangers. If it be a right to 
secede — it is a perfect right, and belongs as 
much to one State as to all. It is a right in- 
cident to sovereignty. And the denial of that 
right by the constituted authorities would 
make it an imperious duty to exercise it. If 
this be the issue, the sooner we test the ques- 
tion of the unlimited powers of the Federal 
Government, the better. But the gentleman 
(Capt. Brooks,) has quoted from a speech of 
mine delivered in Spartanburg last August, 
urging co-operation and joint action with the 
South. I do so now. But he must recollect: 



that speech was delivered under totally 
diflTerent circumstances from the present. It 
was delivered before the second meeting of 
the Nashville Convention when we were ac- 
tually ill consultation with our Soutlicrn 
brethren. It was delivered before the elec- 
tion and meeting of the Georgia ^tate Con- 
vention — before the meeting of the Virginia 
liCgislature, before the extra session of the 
Mississippi Legislature — and before our 
own Legislature had met or done any thing. 
I feared that we might become isolated at 
that time. But all these things have taken 
place and we exhausted every thing in trying 
to produce co-operation — and we are now 
free to take our own course, exercising our 
best judgment for the wellfare of all. 

The gentleman will see, in that very speech 
I ask if others should give way and we should 
f:iil in co-operation — what then will South 
Carolina do ? I said then "she dare not sub- 
mit finally." Let others do as they will, she 
was bound, (not by any commital, for a State 
is not comuiitted to herself — and only com- 
mitted when acting with others,) to go 
through. I used this language — "what 
others' may do we cannot say, but I trust I 
may be excused for saying, ice cannot — we 
dare not submit finally. If we do, the migiity 
spirits that sleep under the plains of the Cow- 
pens and Eutaws would turn in their graves 
with scorn and indignation for their degene- 
rate sons." The very speech from which the 
(rentleraan quoted contains this language. 

I was for concert and co-operatiun, but I 
never dreamed that we were to fold our arms 
and wait forever. I was for waiting and do- 
ing all that reasonable men could do to pro- 
duce concert and unanimity in the States, but 
I never conceived the idea, that in no-emer- 
gency, should we be forced to act alone. 

In the first Nashville Convention, I took 
the ground that decided and concerted action 
of the leading Southern States would pre- 
serve our rights^ and the Union too. The 
States, if they had then united firmly and 
temperately, could have made an authorita- 
tive declaration of their rights under the 
Constitution, and it would have been equiva- 
lent to a bill of Rights in all time to come. 
I If Virginia had taken the lead in this matter, 



{ 12] 



eur rights would have Locn preserved and 
tlie Union too. I said then, that without tliis, 
the States would be driven to separate ac- 
tion, and this would bring on a convulaion 
and in all human probability disunion. I saw 
it then and I see it now. Virginia and Geor- 
gia permitted the occasion to pass, by which 
they might have saved the Constitution and 
avoided a convulsion. Those two States act- 
ing together then, could have controlled the 
South and dictated terms. They have passed 
it by and we now must make our own issues 
and save our own liberties. We were the 
first State to put forth a written Constitu- 
tion and form a government independent of 
Great Britain, even before the joint declara- 
tion of Independence, and we also as a State 
won a glorious victory before that declara- 
tion. And, if we are true to ourselves, we 
can stand alone again. I do not stop to ask 
the question, whether, we will have rendition 
of fugitive slaves secured perfectly, or wheth- 
er it will affect the value of that species of 
property and its profits, if we move alone. I 
scorn and despise this small view of a great 
question. It is a question of chartered rights 
■ — of Constitutional liberty and rises far 
above these small views. 

If they have a right to say that you shall 
not go beyond a certain line with your slaves, 
Ihey have a right to say you shall not go 
with any other species of property. If they 
had declared in so many words that the peo- 
ple of Mississippi, of Alabama, of Georgia 
and of South Carolina, shall not go above a 
certain line into any of the public Territories 
of the Union — if they had named these States 
the insult and degradation would have been 
so pa]pable,thatan army of Southern soldiers 
would have taken the field at once to avenge 
the wrong And yet they have done precisely 
the same thing in effect. If they have a right 
to exclude you with your slaves,they have the 
right to exclude you as citizens of the States 
named. As far as constitutional power is 
concerned in government, the ingenuity of 
man cannot show why they should have the 
power in one instance and not in the 
other. 

If they can put the citizens, holding slaves in 
'certain statcs.undcr the ban of the confederacy 



they can put the States themselves by name 
and the citizens as citizens. The Constitu- 
tion declares that " the citizens of each State 
shall be entitled to all privileges and immuni- 
ties of citizens in the several States." And 
yet the government openly asserts that 
that the citizens of near half the States of 
this Union, shall not be allowed to go above 
a certain line with the privileges of their pro- 
perty, but shall disposses themselves of the 
most valuable part of that property before 
they can claim equality, in privileges, with 
the citizens of Ohio or Massachusetts. They 
make a Compromise line of 36° 30" when it 
suits them to seize half the territory of Lou- 
isiana, and then, instead of carrying out that 
line in good faith, as it was intended, in spirit 
and substance to the Pacific, w'hen it suits 
them to seize territory below it, they do so 
without remorse and without sluime. 

Where is their Compromise ? Where is 
their plighted faith? Are we to be circum- 
scribed at their pleasure? Are we to 
be encircled in great penitentiary walls by 
our masters and our keepers ? 

Merciful God ! are we born slaves or are 
we born freemen ? Are the descendants of 
Cavaliers to let the swords of their forefath- 
ers hang around them, in their halls, to rust 
forever ? Do they dread to draw them, be- 
cause forsooth a nation of Yankee shoe-ma- 
kers may let drive at them with their awls, or 
a nation of weavers may threaten to raise 
their shuttles and spindles ? 

Mr. Chairman ! the final result of all these 
measures is to abolish slavery in the States, 
or to render it valueless, and thus to force 
those who own them to abandon the country 
or perish in its ruins. To establish the truth 
of this — bear with me while I go back and 
trace the history of events particularly for 
the last twenty-five years. Look first at its 
rise and progress in England. When Wil- 
berforce first proclaimed his doctrines of 
emancipation for the British West India Is- 
lands, he had few or no followers, and I be- 
lieve he was mobbed in the streets of Liver- 
pool, or at least treated with great indignity. 
The productions of those Islands and slave 
labour were then of great importance to 
England, and the movement was looked upon 



[ 13] 



•as a direct blow at her prosperity and com- 
mercial wealth. The proposition for emanci- 
pation was scouted, and received l/ut slender 
support in the British Parliament for years. 
And yet Wilbcrforce lived to see the day 
when he bore down the common sense and 
talent of England by mad fanaticism and wild 
philanthrophy. The deed was consummated 
against the judgment of the thinking classes. 
And the Prime Minister of England, in the 
same speech, by which he carried the Eman- 
cipation Bill, congratulated the country that 
he would thereby fifially be enabled to with- 
<3niw troops from these West India stations 
and station them in Ireland ! ! Emancipate 
the black man of the West Indies and station 
British bayonets to keep in slavery the white 
man of Ireland ! What a comment vTpon 
British Philanthropy ! And what has been the 
result ? Ireland under the British bayonet — 
in chains and perishing with starvation. — 
The West Indies free, yet poor — miserable 
— wretched, in degradation and ruin. And 
this is what the world called humanity ! 

The movements for emancipation in France 
.and England were then transferred to the 
United States. And as short time ago, as 
1834 and '35, when I first entered Congress, 
it was talked of as belonging to a f^w ob- 
scure fanatics who were considered madmen 
and utterly unworthy of all kind of notice. 
They were merely laughed at. In' 1836 they 
began to send in petitions quite frequently 
to abolish slavery in the District of Colum- 
bia, &c. Gen. Hammond and myself, al- 
though very young members, at tliat time, 
made the question of reception ^on those pe- 
titions. It produced great excitement, and 
it was thought even by Southern members 
that we were ultra and extravagant in our 
views. I recollect well, in a speech I then 
delivered, denying the Constitutional right of 
the Government to abolish slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia without the consent of 
Virginia and Maryland. I said that there vi^as 
danger from this party of abolitionism, and 
. that the day would come when they would 
hold the balance of power, and overrun both 
parties at the North and endanger the exist- 
ence of this Union. I was pronounced a 
.madman and it was gravely put forth in a 



New York paper that I ought to be expelled 
the House of Representatives for such sen- 
timents. A large majority even of Southern 
members had a decided feeling against me 
on these points. Things went on rapidly 
growing worse and worse until, in 1837, Mr J. 
Q, Adams presented a petition from twenty- 
three slaves of Fredricksburg, Virginia, — 
praying Congress to abolish slavery, &c. 
This produced great excitement and, after 
much discussion, it ended finally in the House 
passing a resolution which was equivalent to 
affirming that slaves had a right to petition. 
The Southern members called a meeting and 
I proposed that we would not again take our 
seats until the obnoxious resolution were re- 
pealed by the non-slaveholding members 
themselves. After several days of excite- 
ment, my proposition was voted down and 
the resolution was repealed by the assistance 
of Southern votes. I refused to vote at all, 
and never afterwards attended any caucus of 
Southern members on the subject of slavery. 
I was rebuked as an agitator, and, in a circu- 
lar addressed by the delegation from Missis- 
sippi to their Constituents I was openly de- 
nounced as a traitor to the Union, while 
others were praised for saving the Union. I 
merely mention these things now, to show 
the rapid progress of events, and not to show 
the humble part I may have had in them, for 
I only happened to be put in that position 
from the deep interest I then felt in the 
matter. 

It was about this period that Mr. Adams 
began to assume the doctrine, that Congress 
might have power over the whole subject of 
slavery in the States — and used the remarka- 
ble language upon the floor, vi'hen asked by 
a gentleman from Alabama, what he would 
do if abolition produced sluices of blood, he 
exclaimed in great excitement, " Lei it flow ! 
Let it flow ! .'" I mention Mr. Adams merely 
because be was the great leader of agitation 
— and gave form and consistency to Fanati- 
cism. His high position and eminent abili- 
ties gave dignity and power to all those move- 
ments which were started under his advice, 
and which will end where, I sincerely be- 
lieved, he desired them to end, in a dissolu- 
tion of this Union. Tlicn came on the ex- 



[ 14] 



citement as to recognition of Indopeiidence 
and annexation of Texas. A large portion 
of the Nortli were cnli^sted agaiiHt Texas 
simply on the ground tliat it miglil increase 
the power of the Slave States. They de- 
clared often and over in thuir resolutions and 
through their papers that annexation of Textis 
would be a dissolution of the Union. This 
has been their feeling ever since the purchase 
of Louisiana. Mr. Josiah Quincy, an able 
and leading member of Congress, from Mas- 
sachusetts, when the Bill for the admission 
of Louisiana was before Congress, used this 
language, "If this Bill passes it is my de- 
liberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolu- 
tion of ihe Union — that it would free the 
States from their moral obligations ; and that 
as it will be the right of all, so it will be the 
duty of some, definitely to froposp for sepa- 
ration^ amicably if they can, forcibly if they 
must" Such was the universal doctrine of 
bitter Federalism then against the admission 
of Slave States — and such is tiieir doctrine 
at this day. Mr. Webster in his recent speech 
at Buffalo, so much lauded, says at the time 
Louisiana was acquired he was " too young 
to hold any office or take any share in politi- 
cal aff.iirs." He says he had " nothing to do 
with the Florida treaty or the admission of 
Florida!" He says also, '• I never would con. 
sent that there should be one foot of slave 
territory beyond what the old thirteen States 
had at the time of the formation of the 
Union." He says, as to the annexation of 
Texas, " I sought an occasion to proclaim my 
utter aversion to any such measure, and I de- 
termined to resist it with all my strength to 
the last!" He further says in the same 
speech, " I ivill not noto or hereafter consent 
to be numbered among those who introduced 
new slave power into the Union. I was born 
at the North — educated at the North — have 
lived all my days at the North — I wish to see 
all men free. I have no associations out of 
the Northern States — My people are your 
people. You will find me true to the North 
because all my sympathies are with the 
North." If this had been uttered by a South- 
ern Statesman he would iiave been denounced 
by the minions of power as narrow and sec- 
tional in all his feelings — an ultraist — a dis- 
unionist 



And yet when il is proclaimed by the high- 
est Minister of State, and comes to us with 
the unction of official dignity and under the 
patronage of Magisterial authority, it is all 
eloquence — all genuine American patriotism! 
What right has he, as an Officer of Govern- 
ment, to proclaim himself exclusively a North- 
ern man ? Has it come to this that the gov- 
ernment is already assumed to belong to one 
section, and are we to be considered merely 
as their provinces'? Is he to be Secretary of 
State for the North alone ! And is this to 
be his policy in conducting the foreign nego- 
tiations of the country ? Are we to be out- 
lawed ? And is he, in no event, to protect 
slave power or slave property ? Where then 
is our protection under the national flag? — 
Talk about a single State not being able to 
give protection to our interests ! — better, far 
better stand alone — than to receive such pro- 
tection as is thus tended to us by the Secre- 
tary of State for the Union. Is this not a 
pregnant chapter in the history of our down- 
ward career? Fellow-citizens ! I tell you, it 
speaks a language not to be mistaken, and 
we must be prepared to assert our own rights 
or we are gone beyond redemption. 

But, to progress with the history of aboli- 
tion as connected with the annexation of 
Texas. — It is well known that a great move- 
ment was made in this country and also in 
Great Britain against that annexation be- 
cause it might strengthen and perhaps perpet- 
uate slavery in these States. About this 
period, the " World's Convention" was held 
in London with representatives from this 
country as well as every v^here else, for the 
abolition of African Slavery throughout the 
world. The Representatives from the North- 
ern States became fully possessed of the 
opinions of such men as Mr. Webster and 
Mr. Adams at that time, and acted strictly in 
concert with British Philanthropists and Brit- 
ish Statesmen in all their moves upon Texas. 

There was a communication" made by Mr. 
J. Q. Adams to the British Government 
through J\Ir. Lewis Tapjian and by him pro- 
claimed in the " World's Convention." 

Mr. Tappan said, " in a conversation I had 
with John Quincy Adams on that subject, 
(the annexation of Texas) he said, ' I deem 



[ 15] 



it the duty of Great Britain as a christian 
nation to tell the Texians that slavery must 
be abolished; that it shall not be planted 
there after all the efforts and sacriiices thai 
have been made to abolish it ail ovir thf 
world. The annexation of Ti xas will,' 
he said, 'be a leatii. g t<ij)ic- next Session, but 
I will oppose it wiih all the vij^or and talent 
that God has jfiven me. If slavery is abol- 
ished in Texas, it must speedily fall through- 
out America, and when it falls in America 
it will expire throughout Christendom.'" 

Sir Robert Peel immediately after this, car- 
ried the discriminating duty on Sugar which 
is an annual tax, on the ground that it would 
enable him to make a treaty with Brazil for 
the abolition of slavery. His words were, 
" Make the attempt. — Try to get concessions 
from those from whom yov, gel your supplies. 
You may depend upon it there is a growing 
conviction among the people of these coun- 
tries that slavery is not unaccompanied by 
great dangers. In Cuba, in tiie United States, 
in the Braziles, there is a ferment on the sub- 
ject of slavery which is spreading and will 
spread. Some from humane and benevolent 
motives — some on account of interested 
fears begin to look at the great example we 
have set, and begin to look at the consequen- 
ces which may resuU from ihal example near- 
er HOJIE. It is impossible lo look al ihe dis- 
cussions in the United States of America, 
and especially to the conflicts between ihe 
Northern and Southern Stales, without seeing 
that slavery in that nation stands on a preca- 
rious footing (Cheers.) The same feeling is 
growing up in Brazil and Cuba," &c. 

Not long after this — December 26lh, 1843, 
Lord Aberdeen, at the head of Foreign Af- 
fairs in Great Britain, addressed that famous 
letter to the Secretary of State in the United 
States, which produced such profound sensa- 
tion in this country. He justifies the course 
his government pursued towards Texas in at- 
tempting to procure emancipation there. He 
says — " with regard to the latter point (abol- 
ishing slavery in Texas) it must be and is 
well known both to the United States and to 



the u-orld." Again he says — " With regard 
to Texas, we avow that we wish to see slave- 
ry abolished there, as elsewhere, and we 
sliould njoiceif the recognition of that coun- 
ry by the Mexican Government should be 
;cc(impanied by an engagement on the part 
of Texas to abolish slavery eventually, and 
under proper conditions throughout the Re- 
public." 

Fellow Citizens! I am thus minute in^ 
tracing the history of this great question 
to show you that the final result and object 
r)f all tliese movements is the total overthrow 
of your institutions — that it is a concerted 
system between Great Britain and Northern 
men — that they intend to strike the blow 
when they dare do it. This letter of Lord 
Aberdeen was formally laid before our Gov- 
ernment, and if the present Secretary of 
State had been at the head of aff lirs, where 
would we have been ? With his present de- 
clarations that he never had and never would 
add to the slave power, he would then have 
prostrated us at the feet' of Great Britain, 
and thrown Texas to the Lion as a sweet mor- 
sel to be devoured, only to whet his appetite 
for the victims that were to be prepared for 
the greater slaughter. But thank God ! other 
men were at the head of affairs, and Mr. Cal- 
houn's great letter as Secretary of State, 
turned the tide of events. Texas was an- 
nexed and our foreign and domestic enemies 
were foiled. 

The Hon. John Reed, a leading man and 
friend of Mr. Webster, from Massachusetts, 
used this language in a letter dated 4tli Au- 
gust, 1843, — "It must be understood that 
the Free States will neither consent nor bub- 
mit to the annexation of Texas to this Union. 
Such annexation would result in its dissolu- 
tion. — In fact it would be an absolution from 
the bonds and obligations of the Constitu- 
tion." 

At meetings in Massachusetts, it was re- 
solved over and over that annexation was 
dissolution, and that Massachusetts was ab- 
solved from all political obligations to the 
slave States." At the close of the 26tli 



the whole world, that Great Britain desires, 1 Congress, thirteen influential members, 
and is constantly exerting herself to procure, ^ among whom were J. Quincy Adams, N. B. 
the general abolition of slacery throughoul I Csdhonih Gov. Slade, Mr. Morgan of New 



[ 1« I 



York, and Jlr. Ilov/ard of Michigan, all uni- 
ted ill a manifesto in opposition to annexa- 
tion of Texas, in which they used the fol- 
lowing language : 

" We hesitate not to say tliat annexation 
effected by any act or proceedings of the 
Federal Government or any of its depart- 
ments would be identical with dissolution. 
It would be a violation of our national com- 
pact — its objects, designs and the great ele- 
mentary principles which entered into its for- 
mation, of a character so deep and funda- 
mental, and would be an attempt to inter- 
mix an institution (slavery) and a power, of f, 
nature so unjust in themselves, so injurious 
to the interests and abhorent to the feelings 
of the people of the free Stales, as in our opin- 
ion, not only inevitably to result in a dissolu- 
tion of the Union, but fully /o juslifij it .'" 

'" In a studied address delivered by Hon. J. 
Q. Adams to the young men of Boston, re- 

' ported ill the National Intelligencer of 
12tli October, 1844. He uses these striking 
and significant words : 

YOUNG MEN OF BOSTON ! 
" The generation of men to whom, now fifty- 
one years by-gone, I gave this solemn pledge, 
have passed entirely away. Those in whose name 
I gave it are, like him who addresses you, drop- 
ping into (he grave. But they have redeemed 
tliefr and my pledge. They were your fathers, 
and they have maintained the freedom transmit- 
ted to them by their sires of the war of indepen- 
dence. They have transmitted that freedom to 
you, and upon you now devolves the duty of 
transmitting it unimpaired to your posterity. 
Your trial is approaching. The spirit of free- 
dom and the spirit of slavenj are drawing to- 
gether for the deadly conflict of arms. The 
annexation of Texas to this Union is the blast of 
the trumpet for a foreign, civil, servile, and Indian 
war, of which the Government of your country, 
fallen into faithless hands, have already lwic«i 
given the signal — first by a shameless treaty, re- 
jected by a virtuous Senate ; and again by the 
glove of defiance, hurled by the apostle of nulli- 
fication, at the avowed policy of the British em- 
pire peacefully to promote the extinction of slave- 
ry thoughout the world. Young men of Boston : 
burnish your armor, prepare for the conflict, and 
I say to you in the language of Galgacus to the 
ancient Britons. Think of your forefathers! 
think of your posterity ! " 
This is no common language from a common 
man. I do not choo3c to quote from your 
common fanatics or your ordinary men, but 
I quote from those who are high in intellect 
—high in popular favor— high iu power. 



And I say to you in reply, Young Men of 
Carolina ! The contest may " draw together 
for the deadly conflict of arms." — Burnish 
your armor — prepare for the conflict — and if 
that terrible day does come, do your duty — 
Strike for your country and her altars — 
Think of your forefathers ! Think of your 
posterity ! 

After the British Government and our 
Northern brethren were defeated in their 
schemes against us to be effected through 
Texas, they fell back to circumscribe us by 
the Wilmot Proviso. After the acquisition 
of those vast territories from Mexico — it was 
suddenly laid down that there was no need 
for the Wilmot Proviso to exclude us, for we 
were already excluded by the Mexican law. 
And in addition to this it was gravely laid 
down as American law, that any band of ad- 
venturers that might seize upon those territo- 
ries, under the natural and unalienable rights 
of man, could assume to themselves sover- 
eign power, and then erect any government 
they might think proper, so they called it a 
State, and extend their jurisdiction to any 
boundaries they might declare, no matter 
how extensive or v;here the lines might run. 
Until this, we had supposed that the States 
united through their common agent, the Fed- 
eral Government, had alone the power to 
take incipient steps in the organization of 
territories in the public domain. But, under 
this new doctrine, together with the assump- 
tion as to the force of Mexican law, we were 
to be excluded from all privileges as citi- 
zens of slave-holding States in the rich ter- 
ritories acquired, and that was sufficient to 
make those, who now assume to be our 
masters, adopt it. They have asserted the 
power to circumscribe us — they have enclo- 
sed us in a great penitentiary wall, and our 
doom is inevitable. In the progress of a 
few years, and, by one quarter of a million of 
foreign emigrants a year, they will, under 
their system, have new States sufficient to 
make any law— or, if the letter of the Con- 
stitution should happen to stand in the way, 
they will have ample power to make a direct 
amendment. Fifty years is but a very short 
time in national existence, and fifty years 
will fix us beyond the hope of a patriotic 



[ 17 ] 



and eoiirritrenus strunrffle. No ! now is the 
div. .-sMii now istlie iiour — Ri^eandrusb to 
tlie ■ lied Sea," ind if the God of Hosts 
will not save us; we may yet again praise 
Hill!- who shali ie d Us safely out of the 
power of our oiicciiii's. But ii is said there is 
diinuer and dirliouhy in <roini( alone. That 
Sep.. r tie Stale air, ;oii will be full of disaster 
and ruin. Tl)ose wiio s<iy so, admit that it is 
rniti to St v. We ii ive been denied equal- 
ity iis a State — we have been spurned and 
oontemned. Instead of conciliation and 
kindness, onr in ri'itions have been derided 
and we have bi^en held up for denunciation, 
in our mor 's and smi i! intercourse, before 
the christian and moral world. Our coun- 
try is one constan' scene of bitter agitation 
and j)ainful anxiety. There is not a moth- 
er or a father in our land that does not 
ask the question every night, what is to be- 
come of us? Is this the fostering care of 
kind protective Government ? This itself is 
wdious tyranny and intolerable degradation. 
What though there be difficulty and danger 
in the State acting alone ! It cannot be worse 
than to stand and bear it. Better to move 
like freemen boldly for the independence 
and rights of the country, for if we should 
even perish, we will fall with our honor saved 
and a name unstained, for the admiration of 
posterity. But if we stand still, we shall 
perish like mice under an exhausted receiver 
— with no consideration save the pity of the 
world. 

Mr. Chairman ! has any man thought seri- 
ously of the terrible effects of aboliiion when 
brouijlit to our homes and to our tire-sides? 
Three million -^ of bl !ck slaves, turned lose 
upon the community, would present such 
a scene as the world' has never conceived. 
They would come directly into competition 
with the wn'ite mcch mies — artizans and com- 
mon I .borers uf the whole country. They 
would work for li.'tle or nothing — a bottle of 
rum and twist of tobeuo; what would be- 
come of the free ar.iz-ms, enterprising me- 
rliaiiics, and indus'rious laborers of our 
country? Brouglii down to a degraded com- 
petition with three millions of slaves made 
free. Now. they are re<rulated and labor in I 
au eniirjly different field. Who itien could ) 



live here ? Now, the white man feels freedotn 
to be his privilege and rank — it separates him 
from the caste below him. He will then 
have the black man put up as his equal, and 
they will sink together into a common but 
degraded level. The wealthy man, if he is 
mean enough and base enough to desert the 
country, may be able to save something and 
do so, but the poor man whose fate is fixed 
from necessity in the doom and destiny of 
the country is iiere and here forever — there 
is no escape. Let no man hug to himself 
the fatal delusion that he is too poor to feel 
the withering blight of that dreadtul curse, if 
it should ever come. There is none so high 
and none so low, but he will sniver under 
the howling of that dreadful blast. There 
will be no peasant cottage, that hangs upon 
our hills, however humble, but will fall 
before that midnight storm. There will be 
no sign upon the door posis or lintels of any- 
chosen and elect, by which the destroying 
angel may know to pass by. 

Geuilemen! many suppose, because sla- 
very has been extinguished in otuer coun- 
tries without a convulsion, that it can be done 
here. But the circumstances are totally dif- 
ferent. In the iioman Republic, the slaves 
were of the same color and of the same 
race. Many of them were learned and re- 
fined. They were tauglit those things that 
were supposed to be eiteminaie by their war- 
like masters. Tliey merely changed as the 
government and laws and society changed, 
and were gradually and finally lost in amalga- 
mation, the races all being the same. So in 
England. And althougli the followers of 
William the conqueror looked for ages in 
contempt upon the Saxons, } et their color 
and pliysieal attributes were the same.— 
True, when one of their Kings, at last, inter, 
married with a Saxon, it produced a shock to 
the conquering race, yet it was the beginning' 
of that general amalgamation, which finally- 
intermingled the two races uiiiil the distinc,, 
tions were lost and forgotten, and slavery 
gradually fell without a convulsion, and with- 
out even a general law in relation to it. Not 
so here. God himself has made such dis- 
linctions of color and other physical as weU 
as moral attributes, as forever forbid the same 



r 18] 



lermination. No ! no ! go forw.-ird in this 
wild scheme of ni;id fanaticism and \viiiniii<r 
philanthrophy, and you convert this land nf 
happiness into scenes of universal blood, and 
then, finally, into a barbarian wilderness. Jt 
will d,-y up all the sources of prosperity and 
refinement, and we will have nothinof but a 
melancholy and deserted land with, perchance, 
here and there a solitary inhabitant to point 
out the fi-raves and the monuments of our 
once heroic race. And this is done in a far 
shorter time than many of us imagine. — 
Look at St. Doming-o — the very name cur- 
dles one's veins— look at all the West India 
Islands i.f France and England. Less than 
twenty-five years ago — cultivation, refine- 
ment and the arts held their mingled sway 
over those fairest regions of God's creation, 
and where now are they ? Laid low in ruin 
and desolation. Vag.-ant labor, set free 
stalks in lean and hungry ferocity through- 
out a deserted land. And, we too in like 
manner, will pass into desolation if we sub- 
mit now to an unscrupulous and an unlimi- 
ted government. Talk about the commercial 
ruin to Charleston if we act! why sir, it is 
nothing compared with our destiny if we do 
not act. Besides, when is it that any people 
ever did tread the path that leads to Inde- 
pendence without difficulty and danger? — 
Peace, quiet, safety, ease, are the lullabies of 
Despotism. Go into the interior of Syria — 
look upon that vast and calm sea " sleeping 
like an unweaned infant " — visit its coast 
and you will see one wide spread plain of 
salt and desolation — and no lining creature 
can breathe in the hot air that rises from its 
calm, heavy, bituminous surface — that, sir, 
is the dead sea of despotism and submission. 
Turn to another picture, and look at the 
deep blue waters of these bounding billows 
— the spray dashing against the very Heav- 
ens — look at the coast covered with the rich- 
est verdure. All nature leaps and bounds un- 
der the plastic hand of a benificent God — 
cultivation and refinement rise up to bless 
and to gladden the heart of man. True the 
waters rise mountain high and there is peril 
and danger to all who ride on its stormy sur- 
face. That, sir, is the sea of liberty 



expect to encounter danger and difficulty— 
without this, liber;y itself loses much of 
its essential worth. 

I think the probabilities are that we will 
have to act alone if we act at all. I hope 
however we will do nothing rash — we must 
lake proper time and be prepared before we 
strike. We must do nothing to ofl^end even 
the pride of our sister Southern States. We 
must do nothing under an idea of conipeling 
them to act. If we are driven to it, we must 
make our own issues according to our own 
interests, independent of them if they will 
not counsel with us. We must not force an 
issue for them. After we shall have acted in 
the most moderate and modest manner, all 
will readily perceive, should the General 
Government attempt to usurp the power to 
decide and tender us force to compel submis- 
sion or to hinder or annoy us, that then in 
reality a new issue is made by the Govern- 
ment, and what may be our lot must finally 
be the lot of every other Southern State.— 
Like the victims that Polyphemus singled 
out for each repast, the lot of all will be, to 
be devoured by the same voracious jaws. 
We may be the first victim, but there will 
be no escape for the rest unless they pass out 
together loith the flock. 

I have hopes in Georgia. And if McDon- 
ald, the noble standard bearer of the cause 
of justice and right shall succeed this Fall, 
and a majority to the Legislature is elected 
with him, I feel that we will have friends 
there. And any proposition that might be 
made to us from them, I would respectfully 
receive and consider it as from our brethren. 
So of Mississippi. There is Quitman, from 
the storm of battle, as brave as a Knight 
Templar from the holy land itself, and the 
gallant Davis who waved as bright a sword 
as ever flashed over the perilous ridge of vic- 
tory. These are men who are able at the 
council board as well as mighty captains in 
the field, and if they carry Mississippi, as I 
feel assured they will, we will greet whatever 
propositions they have to make with a cor- 
dial and a hearty welcome, because we know 
they could make none but what were compat- 
able with the vindication of our rights and 



He who expects to live a freeman, must our honor. I am for co-operation if it can 



t 19] 



be obtained in any reasonable time. I will 
do any thing, but yield principle, to obtain it. 
The elections in nearly all the States take 
place before our Convention can meet. Con- 
■ gress has to meet. Ohio has already elected 
open abolilion Senators, — so has New York, 
and so has Massachusetts. They are openly 
for a repeal of the fugitive slave law — and 
declare there was, in fact, no Compromise. 
The two parties in Pennsylvania have re- 
cently made issue upon precisely the same 
points. If Gov. Jonnson and his friends 
carry Pennsylvania, it is upon the ground 
that there is no Compromise and that the fu- 
gative slave law must be repealed. If they 
succeed then there will be no alternative, we 
must strike and strike immediately although 
the Union should fall — we must strike and 
strike alone, if none will strike with us, be 
the consequences what they may. 

I was elected a member of the Conven- 
tion while I was absent from the State with- 
out the slighest consultation with me. It 
was no post to be coveted. And I desire to 
be entirely free from all party feeling that 
may spring up — to be perfectly unbiased, so 
ns to be able to do my duty conscienciously 



] according to circumstances when the Con- 
vention meets. The final destiny of the 
slave-holding race is one of the greatest prob- 
lems that is to be worked out in modern 
times. If we are wise, we can save our 
order of civilization — but it will require great 
judgement and great boldness. There may 
be too much caution. A bold move, at the 
proper time, may be the basis of strength. 
The internal structure of our society has 
great strength. Our military organization 
gives much greater capacity for defence than 
appears upon the surface. I trust we shall 
be able to fulfill our destiny as becomes an 
intelligent and brave people. 

I love my own hills and my own vallies, 
because my friends and my kindred live there 
— I love my own home and my own country^ 
because it was the home and the country of 
my forefathers — I love my own State, each 
and every one of her institutions, because 
they are the institutions handed down to us 
by a gallant and heroic ancestry. Whatever 
I am, and whatever I hope to be on earth, is 
here and here forever, — I stake it all on the 
Independence of my country. 



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